ABSTRACT
On March 15, 1851, in the California gold rush town of Shasta City, Pearson Easterbrook was tried, convicted, and hanged for the murder of his messmate, Price. The citizens of Shasta held a meeting and ran the trial and the execution themselves because there were no courts in that part of the state. The Californians called this process “trial by Judge Lynch.” It takes no imagination to see how it might go wrong, but, according to the transcript, Easterbrook’s trial could hardly have been more methodical and formal. A Mr. Enos Dutton was appointed chairman, and a Robert Crenshaw, secretary. Then “[a] motion was made and seconded, to appoint a committee of three to select a jury of twelve men, to try the cause before the people,” and this was carried unanimously. The committee was chosen, and it duly elected twelve men as jurors; the full names of all of these parties appear in the published transcript. Further motions were made, seconded, and carried: to allow the accused a fair and impartial trial; to call the witnesses; and to instruct the chairman to swear the jury and the witnesses. The witnesses testified at length and the jury retired, briefly, before returning a verdict of guilty. 1
